Reel 8: April 20, 1954/Transcript
This is the official transcript for the episode which can also be accessed for free at'' patreon.com/withinthewires''Amy, have you ever been to the Alamo? When Bernice Jones had Vivi and I down to visit last year, she took us to some historic sites. I thought the Alamo was fascinating, this monument to great defeat. The few hundred Texas insurgents showed resilience in the face of thousands of soldiers, so I suppose the moral of determination is worth something. “Remember the Alamo” is the famous shout when they finally defeated the Mexican leader Santa Ana. But they didn’t shout just that. They shouted “Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!” “Remember the Alamo” “Remember Goliad” Bernice and Miguel took us to Goliad, to Presidio La Bahía. The Alamo is in the middle of San Antonio, not much of a city, but you can tell it’s growing. Some taller buildings popping up around the old mission, which is also somewhat of a local tourist attraction. It feels museum-y. Presidio La Bahía. It’s nowhere. You stand there and you can feel 120 years just spin off the clock. It’s pristine, the same as it was in the 1830s. No museum, no sign, no city. They shouted “Remember Goliad” but no one does. Maybe because the insurgents who died in Goliad surrendered to the Mexican army, under the idea that they’d be marched off to prison, live to live another day. But the army marched them about 200 feet away and then gunned them all down. Just like the Alamo, but without resistance or determination. History doesn’t remember those who don’t fight, I guess, is the lesson here. Don’t know what made me think of that. Anyway, if you’re ever down south, you should skip the Alamo and go straight to Goliad. It really is a time machine. # # # Amy, I can't do anything other than carry on. I know you know this, but Vishwathi didn't fire me. She demoted me. She didn't tell me to what, just that I've been demoted, until she knows the best way to deal with me. Whatever that means. but I still have my office. I still have my wits. And I still have you. Thank you, Amy, for talking to me this morning. I said some harsh things, and I’m glad you understand where they were coming from. I don’t have much of anything. I hope I have you. You'll understand my moments of not trusting you. My home has been broken into 3 different times. So has my office. Whoever has been in those places has harmed my cat, left threatening messages for my wife. Not even a note or a call to threaten us in a human language. They cut large holes in each of her dresses, right around the left breast. Vivi’s no longer staying at our home because of this. So. When I said I wasn't followed, that was a lie to try to pretend like I was holding it together. The truth is I'm not holding it together. I'm a goddamn mess. We called the Chicago police after the last break-in, and the officer, a fully competent detective named Park, seemed ready to help to... to investigate. But when I told her who I was, or rather, who I worked for, she paused, looked at her shiny fucking shoes and then said "let me talk to my sergeant." The sergeant called me an hour later saying break-ins were common and there was nothing they could do. Plus, if they weren't stealing anything... I explained they were the same people, and it wasn't about stealing, it was about threatening me and Vivi. The holes in her dresses. The mutilated cat. I called the sergeant every day for five days, and no return calls. The police are useless to me. I’m going to lose my job. I can't visit my wife. I told her to find a hotel. I gave her cash. I told her to take several different cabs. To watch for followers. To put on a wig. To carry a knife. She snapped at me when I told her she couldn't take the cat. But keeping a cat in a hotel would give her away. Amy. Emotionally-speaking, I’m finding it hard to trust you right now. Everyone else has worked against me, and you know more about me than anyone else. But logically, trusting you is the only thing that can get me out of this. Viswathi and Karen haven't made any moves yet, other than to frame me for charges that haven't yet been filed. Until the tribunal sentries knock on my door, I've still got life. Begrudgingly, Amy, I trust you. So please, if you're going to destroy me, do it swiftly. # # # Amy take a letter. Bernice Jones, Minister for Culture, North American Region. April 20, 1954 Hey Bern, I hope San Antonio treats you well. Chicago is murdering me. There have been some shake ups in the Trade Department - usual bureaucratic nonsense - and I am considering making a move… upward, of course. When your artists were removed from Europe last fall, you mentioned some of the actors had found recording devices hidden in their hotel rooms. Did any of them keep those machines or the tapes they found? Again I'm sorry to have included you in my political maneuvering back then, and even still, I think I need to include you in more of my political maneuvering. Who was your main point of contact in the Western European Cultural Offices. Was it Léonie Sirois? I ask because I don't think she actually works in the Department of Culture. She works for a woman named Karen Roberts, head of the Trade Office there. You don't have to do anything, but if you have any printed materials with Sirois's name on them, I'd love a copy. No big deal, just doing a bit of a research project. Vivi remains in good health. Her pregnancy is coming along perfectly, and soon, she'll have to go to the maternity center for three months. How are the maternity centers in San Antonio? The ones here... aren't great. Plus, Vivi is tired of the cold, and if she has to spend an entire winter in one place, it might as well be down south. I don't know if you have any recommendations for centers in your area. Best wishes, Michael Amy. They have to leave Vivi alone. They're already going to take her from me when the tribunal comes and I go to prison. What good does it do for them to threaten her as well? Let her leave and have a child and get paid for it and live whatever life she can - a new life in the sunshine of the hill country or maybe along the Gulf. I'm talking to you like you have anything to do with this. # # # Amy I know I've asked you this before, but have you double and triple checked that we don't have any other copies of the Vancouver reports? The ones I have are not correct. I’ve never seen these letters before. I didn’t sign them. I definitely didn’t write them. If you could just look again. Vishwathi was looking for them, I know. Vancouver called again wanting to talk to me about violations of the Citizens Espionage Act of 1951. About recording conversations between food processing plants or something. They think I've been spying on businesses, trying to undermine their sales. They’re citing letters that I have signed which threaten rivals and solicited bribes. That's not me, Amy. That's fucking Ramadoss. And I know we had a box of papers with her name all over them, and it's not there anymore. When you were gone the other day, I spent all afternoon looking for those files. I don’t understand your system. You obviously do, because you do a great job, but I’m feeling a bit trapped by my lack of knowledge. Those men in suits and their idiot dog, I'm sure, took them. They broke a window last week. Did you know that? They’re not even being careful anymore. The thing is, I'm going to be sent before a tribunal, and these reporters are going to say "Well he never returned our calls. That's pretty suspicious." I still can’t believe Vishwathi sold me out. God I wish I could throw her right under the wheels of that bus, but I - I have nothing. Other than a box, stolen by a couple of faceless people smoking cigarettes, and probably since long destroyed, I have nothing. The fact that they keep breaking in, though. Why do they keep breaking in if they already have what they want? I'll be found guilty. They'll send me to prison. And maybe I get to write letters home, but not likely because they have their goons to keep harassing Vivi, to keep taking apart Connie one extremity at a time. Because they're not satisfied with me just being out of the way. They're vindictive, Amy, and they’ll want to make sure I can never come back. What I need to know is... It's... It's tough, Amy. I don't know what to tell you to do for me. If I tell you, and you're working against me, then I'm done for. If I tell you, and you're working for me, then you might be done for. I mean, either way, they've got me. But I think if I could get a different identification card, and get out of politics all together. Move south to Lubbock or Albuquerque or Just get a low profile job as a waiter. But Vivi, I don't know. She's fully documented as pregnant. They won't lose track of her. You can't just be nine months pregnant walking around in public without everyone noticing you’re not at a Pregnancy Center. And no one's going to deliver a baby off the record, unless we go completely off our heads and join that cult that.... Oh god, Amy, I just seriously considered joining a cult. The... the Cradle or whatever they're called. Living in a woodsy commune and raising a giant family. Probably stockpiling rifles. Made by KR Development. Jesus. If only I could find the real Vancouver files and then hand that over to the Internal Investigations Unit in Omaha and let them know what Vishwathi's really been up to. See who likes tribunals then. I don't know why she hasn't arrested me yet, Amy. I don't know what to do with Vivi. I haven't heard from her in days, because I'm too afraid to give away her location. # # # Amy. Letter to Sima Choudary. April 20. Dear Sima, Thank you for the updates on your childhood development center. I see you have taken many of my notes and even improved upon them with your new designs. The infirmary is stellar. So many beds. I'm writing to request your involvement on our New Conversion Project here in Chicago. As you know many of the buildings in the old stockyards are crumbling, and many of the former American soldiers who returned from war are without work. Not to mention the food shortage. I have people who can build things, or can be trained to build things. I have materials that can be repurposed from these damaged warehouses. I have land. So much land. I don't have anyone to manage this, nor anyone who can design this. Sima, I think you can. There has been some turnover lately in the Trade Department, and my job looks to be... changing soon, which is why it's important to get you motivated to start this endeavor. I've already sent paperwork to the New Societal Council to begin this work, and it's been fully approved, pending the hiring of a qualified project manager. Amy, please start the paperwork on this and send it to Toronto immediately. As long as I still have this office and job, they'll approve it. As I transition into other responsibilities, it's important that my efforts to keep the workers of North America not only employed but productive, constructing our future. Perhaps you feel you’re too inexperienced for this position - moving this far across the earth would be an enormous change for you - but I will remain your mentor from whatever position or organization I’m in. Loyalty is so important in this business, and I will support you to the end. Your work for the New Society is unsurpassed, and your compassion for the mission of rebuilding our global population in understanding and love is the standard we should all hope to achieve. I know from your previous correspondence that you have a great distaste for Karen Roberts, and I regret to inform you that she has a close watch on this office, for reasons I cannot begin to comprehend. But know that as a Project Manager, you report to only to the bureaucrats in Toronto, even if you work out of our facilities here in Chicago. This project protects you fully. This is intentional on my part. Please contact my secretary Amy Castillo to follow up. You're the best person for this job. I pray you will accept. Hope? Pray is really strong, right Amy? I mean it's true, but I don't want to sound…. Hope. Just go with hope. Sincerely, etc. Amy, whatever happens to me, make sure Sima takes this job. I've worked so hard to stop people like Karen from tearing apart the disarmament initiative of the New Society, to stop corporate heads from exploiting citizens. I just don't think we can stop bad things, or bad people. I should have just kept my eyes on the good things we could have started. Sima’s a good person who could create a good thing that lasts for generations. Plus, Sima loves me. If she completes this project, she'll put my name all over it. Category:Transcripts